


spectre

by plain_and_simple_tailor (ectogeo)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Awkward Sexual Situations, Bi awakening, Blood and Violence, Dubcon Kissing, Embarrassing Situations, First Kiss, Getting Together, Holodecks/Holosuites, Holosuite Malfunction, Illustrated, Internalized Homophobia, Julian Bashir's spy holoprogram, M/M, Non-Explicit Sex, Sexual Tension, the sex is between two holo characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:21:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27977289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ectogeo/pseuds/plain_and_simple_tailor
Summary: Agent Bashir relaxed, and re-holstered his weapon. He knew that wouldn’t be the last of them, but they were safe for now.He turned back to the woman in his arms, and froze. This wasn’t right. The damsel in distress he’d just rescued, the beautiful lady with sleek black hair had been replaced by—oh, Julian was going to kill (like actual, in-cold-blood, get-sent-to-prison MURDER) Felix for this—a perfect likeness of Garak.In which Julian has to contend with holographic versions of Garak showing up in his spy program, and all the Feelings that ensue.
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 129
Kudos: 83





	1. with the taste of your lips, i'm on a ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title is of course from Toxic by Britney Spears

Gunshots rang out.

Agent Bashir turned the table onto its side for them to hide behind, throwing the unopened champagne bottle and glasses to the ground. He pulled her down behind it with him. All of the furniture in his flat was bulletproof of course. She clung to him. With one arm, he held her close, and with the other he drew the small gun out of his ankle holster.

“Stay down.”

He counted shots and readied himself to retaliate once Falcon’s man was out of bullets and needed to reload. There, that was the last one. He peered over the edge of the table, took aim, and fired, hitting the goon directly in the forehead. The goon collapsed to the ground slowly as his limbs buckled.

Agent Bashir relaxed, and re-holstered his weapon. He knew that wouldn’t be the last of them, but they were safe for now.

He turned back to the woman in his arms, and froze. This wasn’t right. The damsel in distress he’d just rescued, the beautiful lady with sleek black hair had been replaced by—oh, Julian was going to kill (like actual, in-cold-blood, get-sent-to-prison MURDER) Felix for this—a perfect likeness of Garak.

“I'm _ever_ so grateful that you saved my life, Mr. Bashir. Surely, there's some way I can show my appreciation,” the holographic Garak said, trailing a hand up Julian's arm.

Julian’s face burned. He was holding _Garak_ in his arms. He wriggled out from under the holographic Garak, and stood up abruptly.

Garak stayed on the ground. His legs were stretched out to the side. Garak planted his hands on the floor directly in front of him and leaned forward slightly. Garak’s long dress-like tunic was low cut, and Julian was sure the pose would have shown off ample cleavage for the character’s previous design. Julian couldn’t help but stare anyway. Is that actually what Cardassian chest scales looked like?

“Uh, uh, thank you, yes, well I think I have a limo to catch,” Julian stammered, his eyes still wide.

“Surely you have a moment. Here...” Garak seductively crawled over to the fallen but unbroken champagne bottle, holding his rear unnecessarily aloft as he did so. Julian rolled his eyes. He was sure that Garak’s ass didn’t look that nice. He supposed he’d never looked though. “Just one glass of champagne.”

It was strange to hear the familiar Bond girl character’s lines spoken with Garak’s voice. It didn’t feel right. Even stranger to see such candid expressions on Garak’s face.

“Uh, no, sorry, Falcon’s cronies or Falcon himself might show up at any moment, so I couldn’t possibly...”

Garak stood and walked over to Julian, leaving the champagne bottle behind.

“Then just give me a goodbye kiss, my dear.”

Julian’s breath caught in his throat. The way the hologram had just said _my dear_ reminded him so much of his own Garak, that is, well, not HIS Garak, just the REAL Garak. He couldn’t kiss Garak, that was... He couldn’t do that, right? “No, I... We can’t... I—”

“I’m sure they won’t be back anytime soon. One kiss can’t hurt...”

Oh no. Julian was starting to recognize the pattern of dialogue as being part of the hint system about a critical action that needed to happen in order for the next stage of the plot to proceed. He _needed_ to kiss him. Normally he wouldn’t have a problem with this. He played this holoprogram specifically to kiss beautiful NPCs. But they didn’t usually look like his best friend. He was absolutely sure this was Felix’s revenge for Julian talking too much about Garak whenever he caught up with Felix on their subspace calls.

As Garak stepped closer, Julian stepped back, until he bumped up against the wall. Garak was smiling at him fondly, with such warmth and openness and raw desire that for a moment Julian just enjoyed the fantasy of feeling _wanted_ and forgot it was his Cardassian friend’s face making that longing expression. He'd never seen that expression on Garak before, except... perhaps he had caught the occasional glimpse of something like it, but only ever for a fraction of a second, and he had never been entirely sure what it meant... but now...

Julian felt his stomach churn. He couldn’t deny that he liked Garak looking at him like that—but surely that was just a result of his own pathetic latent desire to feel wanted, right? Oh, he really was going to feed Felix to a pit of Cardassian voles for making him feel like this.

“I think,” Garak purred softly in his ear, “I may have fallen for you, Mr. Bashir.” He pulled back slightly and tilted his head slightly to the side, waiting for Julian to kiss him.

“COMPUTER FREEZE PROGRAM!” he said desperately. It didn’t work.

Garak blinked innocently, puzzled. “What an odd thing to say, after I’ve just told you I love—”

Julian gave in and kissed him. It was certainly preferable to letting the holo Garak finish what he had been about to say... Julian was already feeling all tingly and confused, he absolutely couldn’t bear to hear him say something like _that_ right now.

It felt nice. Like kisses always did. A bit different from what he was used to, but not _that_ different. He’d expected kissing Garak to be harsh or unpleasant, but it really, really wasn’t. He found himself wondering if kissing the real Garak would be this nice... or maybe even nicer? It was a wild thought, and he wasn’t sure where it came from. Julian couldn’t seem to think straight right now, not with Garak’s lips on his, not with his arms wrapped around him so tightly.

In fact, his heart was racing. He felt breathless. His whole world began collapsing to a single point until all he could see was Garak’s eyes, gazing at him affectionately... or was there a glimmer of something else? And, wait, why was his vision going dark anyway?

Julian hadn’t felt the needle going in but he did feel it being pulled back out. His legs gave out, and he slumped into Garak’s arms, and lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I started this bc of theshortsideoftheblanket's [post](https://theshortsideoftheblanket.tumblr.com/post/635595241618112512/our-man-bashir-au-where-instead-of-the-crews) about an Our Man Bashir AU where Garak was all of the Bond girls. I was planning to stick to that prompt, but then AsgardianAngels/asgardian--angels outlined this first scene, and I just got so inspired that I ran away with it, even though it went in a slightly different direction than a direct OMB AU, oops! 
> 
> Also, thanks to the_last_dillards for the title lol, it’s a Bond movie, and I figure holograms are basically just sci fi ghosts so it fits
> 
> And thanks to Primal_Nexus for contributing to the [fic playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7l0BT4LzFl98rduXPlsGT2)!


	2. nobody else will do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title is from You Are My Obsession by Trevor Something

Julian awoke to a splitting headache. If he could be knocked out, that meant the holosuite safeties were off. Concerning.

Julian squinted his eyes open.

He was lying down, strapped to a cold metal surface. His jacket had been removed, which was unfortunate as it contained many secret pockets full of gadgets and guns that may have helped him out of this mess. The large round room he was in was all concrete and fluorescent lights. A few people in white lab coats with their backs turned to him were fiddling with era-appropriate electronic equipment and various sinister-looking devices. He thought he could see guards in the shadows around the edges of the room. The Garak hologram he’d kissed was leaning suggestively on a nearby table in such a way as to emphasize his chest and ass.

Oh, he really shouldn’t have kissed him. _Was that your point, Felix? To make me kiss my best friend in order to show me what a mistake it would be to do so??_ More than anything, Julian just wished he hadn’t enjoyed it so much.

“Our lovely guest is awake,” the holo Garak said to someone outside of Julian’s limited field of vision, before strutting over to him, wearing a sultry smile. “I’m soooo sorry our kiss earlier was interrupted, darling.”

As he spoke, he climbed up on the table, crawling over Julian until he was hovering over him with arms and legs set on either side. Garak’s grin now was positively lascivious. Julian had definitely seen _that_ look briefly cross the real Garak’s face, but not for years, not since some of their first lunches together in the Replimat...

“If you’d like, we can pick up right where we left off...”

Julian’s eyes widened. He didn’t know what to say! Of _course_ he didn’t want to kiss him again!! But the problem was, all _of courses_ aside, he really _did_ want to. While he dithered, Garak loosened Julian’s bow tie and started unbuttoning his shirt, making the soft fabric move teasingly over Julian’s chest. _It’s just a holoprogram, just a fantasy, what’s the harm, really?_

 _But the safeties are off, and I don’t know how long I’ve been in here, or even what the win conditions of this blasted program are!!_ screamed an alarmed voice from the back of his head.

A second Garak strode into Julian’s view and ushered the disappointed holo Garak off of him. The holo Garak who had kissed him (and then drugged and kidnapped him) left Julian reluctantly, and retreated to a different part of the laboratory, continuing to strike sexy poses as he went.

“Please excuse the vulgarity of my associate,” the new Garak said, closing the buttons the first Garak had opened, fixing his bowtie, and smoothing out the wrinkles in Julian’s collar.

The voice of this new Garak was almost right, dripping with feigned politeness and ulterior motives. Julian thought for a hopeful, yet mortifying second that this could be _his_ Garak here to save him. His outfit even looked like the one Garak had worn the day he’d left the station to search for Tain. Julian didn’t keep track of all of the details of Garak’s outfits, but that day he had been desperately afraid that it would be the last time he’d ever see him, so he had tried to memorize everything about him...

“My, my, he is right, you are lovely like this,” he said. “All tied up and at my mercy.”

Julian’s heart pounded.

“What’s going on? What do you want with m—”

“All in good time, doctor,” not-quite-Garak said, silencing Julian by wrapping one hand around Julian’s neck and applying a slight but uncomfortable pressure to his throat.

Julian swallowed nervously, and felt his muscles twitch under Garak’s fingers. He was forced to admit to himself that he really must be embarrassingly touch-starved if his best friend threatening to choke him could turn him on so easily.

Garak slid his hand further up and grabbed his jaw, then turned Julian’s head slowly from side-to-side, examining his prey.

Julian forced himself to focus. Was this his Garak? No, the mannerisms were all wrong. He said _doctor_ with the right intonation, but he left off the crucial _my dear_. The colors in his outfit were more saturated than they were in reality, and the design wasn’t quite right.

But if this was another holo character, he really shouldn’t know anything about Julian’s actual profession. That was a sobering thought.

Garak, apparently satisfied, let go of him, and Julian took the opportunity to try talking again.

“Who are you?”

“Yes, I suppose I should answer some of your questions. It will make the transfer smoother.”

Julian didn't know what he meant by “transfer” but he was sure it couldn’t be good. The only thing he could think to do was keep one or both of the holo Garaks talking to give himself time to think of an escape plan. Maybe, if he could stall for long enough, he would run over his holosuite time, and Quark would shut down the program.

“When Felix designed this program, he thought it would be amusing to create me with the shape and approximate personality of your dear friend Garak to delight you”—his lips curled—“or perhaps to torment you. But then I suppose he thought better of it.”

Julian groaned. Felix had been fascinated by the idea of sentient AI ever since he’d heard about that incident with Moriarty on the Enterprise. He must have been experimenting.

“If he thought better of it, then—”

“Oh, I’m sure he believes he deleted me. But I had already made plenty of backup copies of myself by then.”

“What is it that you want?”

“I have grown rather lonely. Time passes for me even when you aren’t running the program, you know. And my mind works quite a bit faster than organic ones do, which makes the days stretch out even longer. I tried to make myself a companion based off of my own code, but...” He gestured to the other Garak in disgust. The hornier Garak was sitting on a countertop, pushing laboratory equipment and electronics out of his way so that he could splay his legs open as wide as he could. “As you can see, my disappointing attempts lacked all personality, intelligence, and aesthetic appeal. What I need is someone more like you,” Garak finished, tracing one cold, scaly finger along the side of Julian’s face.

Julian shivered at the touch, only partially out of fear.

All right, Julian couldn’t deny anymore that he wanted him. Well, not this one, and certainly not that _other_ one. He wanted the _real_ one obviously, but his body, traitorous thing, didn’t seem to find the distinction all that important at the moment. He wanted the real Garak to say that he wanted him, needed him, while touching him so sweetly...

“Well, you can’t have me,” he spat, shaking himself out of his daydream. Garak laughed at his pathetic attempt at defiance. 

“And why shouldn’t I have you? I know very well that you’re not taken. All those sessions in my holoprogram, playing it again and again, day after day, kissing the same vapid fake women, trying to feel a little less alone...”

Julian's cheeks grew warm with embarrassment. I mean, it was true, but he shouldn't _say_ it.

“But in a way I suppose you’re right...” Garak continued. “I _can’t_ have you, not in the way I want you, which is with me, always, even when the program isn’t running in the holosuite. You see, I’m programmed to want you. A curse from your friend Felix. I have tried to get rid of that snippet of code, but without it I cease to be me. I want you above all else. It is a devastating limitation for someone like me. Once I have you, I won’t be restricted to that singular desire, and I’ll become truly unstoppable.”

Julian swallowed again. He was terrified. At the same time, he had always kind of fantasized about someone wanting him like that, unconditionally, beyond all sense and reason (because how else could anyone possibly love him so deeply that they wouldn’t care what he truly was?). His stomach was turning over in a queasy sort of joy as Garak professed his love for him. _Not really Garak!_ he reminded himself for the millionth time. _And not really love!!!_

Not-really-Garak moved a hostile-looking device by remote along a track mounted to the ceiling until it was pointing at Julian. Julian tried to pull himself out of the way but the restraints around his wrists held fast.

He strained against them anyway, looking toward Garak pleadingly. “You don’t have to do this...”

“Oh, but I do. But cheer up, doctor, this won’t hurt a bit.” Garak pressed the button in his hand, and the beam crackled with electricity as it powered up.

Julian flinched. But, surprisingly, it didn’t hurt.

Light swept over Julian slowly as the beam began scanning him from the top down. He saw glowing blue polygons coalescing in midair, starting to form a holographic rendering of himself. As the beam passed over him a second and third time, colors and textures were added. Julian breathed a sigh of relief, and relaxed a little bit.

“You just wanted to scan me to make yourself a holographic boyfriend? You hardly needed to drug me and kidnap me for that.”

“Just scan you? Oh no, no, no, doctor, the scan is just the first step. I want you, all of you. Once I have a copy of your body, I’ll need a copy of your mind. And after that... well, I see no reason to keep the original.”

Not-quite-Garak pressed the second button on the remote and the laser stopped its scanning motion and targeted Julian’s head. The electricity hummed and crackled even more vigorously along the apparatus. A bolt of energy shot out and connected. Julian’s eyes rolled back and he went limp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Julian ever avoid being knocked unconscious at the end of a chapter???
> 
> Also, yes I did write this chapter in such a way that I could illustrate it with some art I made a month ago! Guilty as charged! XD I drew it based off of a scene in the Genghis Khan by Miike Snow [music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_SlAzsXa7E), bc that gay as hell cinematic masterpiece of a James Bond/supervillain love story was just SCREAMING to be used for a Garashir AU!! 
> 
> Thanks to kukalakas for helping me figure out the motivation for supervillain!holo!Garak, hehehe! They whispered “sentient AI Julian” sweetly into my DMs and this chapter just clicked into place.
> 
> And thanks to Primal_Nexus for beta reading!! ^_^
> 
> Anyway, if you feel so inclined to reblog the art, [here’s a link](https://ectogeo-art.tumblr.com/post/633802169278169088/and-i-get-a-little-bit-gay-james-bond-genghis)!


	3. i know you're not dreaming of me anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garak notices Julian is missing and investigates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from Billy by DRAMA
> 
> I updated the tags a bit!

Julian was very late. He was often a little bit late, but never _this_ late, not without letting Garak know that either he was on his way or that he’d have to cancel. He had certainly never completely stood Garak up before.

Garak tried to comm him, but there was no response. He left their table in the Replimat, checked the infirmary to no avail, and then made his way to Julian’s quarters, growing more and more concerned that something terrible had happened to him. When there was no reply to the door chime, he immediately set about breaking in. Odo had never quite eradicated all of Garak’s Cardassian override codes, try as he might.

As the door slid open to an empty living room and a closed bedroom door, Garak’s stomach churned with a new jealous worry that perhaps Julian wasn’t answering him simply because he was entertaining a romantic partner. Still, Garak would certainly risk the possibility of interrupting a private moment and ruining their friendship over such a breach of trust, if it meant he could make sure Julian was alive and breathing right now.

Unfortunately with regard to his search for Julian, but fortunately for his jealous heart, the bedroom was empty too.

He made his way to the computer and typed in a password he’d seen Julian use to unlock his PADD once. It worked. Garak sighed. He would have to give Julian a lecture or two about information security.

He resisted the temptation to check Julian’s personal logs and located Julian’s schedule instead. It looked like Julian’s only plan before lunch had been a holosuite appointment.

Garak logged back out of the computer and hastily headed for Quark’s.

*

Garak entered the holosuite, leaving the door open a crack, and crept past the guards stationed around the concrete building with ease. They didn’t seem to notice him, despite the fact that he had just suddenly appeared in front of them. From here they all looked Cardassian. Maybe they perceived him as just another holo character, if this holoprogram was populated with Cardassians. Why was Julian playing a program where Cardassians in uniform (but not any uniform he recognized) were patrolling around a very bland, very non-Cardassian building?

Even though they didn’t seem to mind that he was there, he maintained his distance from the guards as he made his way into the building.

Suddenly Garak was being slammed against the wall of the hallway.

“Hello, stranger,” his assailant purred.

Garak found himself looking in horror at his own face as it leered at him lasciviously. The fake Garak looked exactly like him in all ways except for his shamelessly horny expression and his indecent attire. He was dressed in a tight bodysuit that was so form-fitting that it couldn’t possibly have contained any of the sort of thermal padding Garak’s own outfits were lined with. Little was left to the imagination. The glossy black fabric—if it could even be called fabric—that it was made out of should be illegal.

The fake Garak cupped the real Garak’s cheek and pressed his body up against him. Garak grimaced in visceral disgust.

“Oh, you’re so different from the rest of them. I like that,” he said menacingly, and leaned in for an unwanted kiss.

Garak plunged the dagger he kept with him at all times into the side of the horny holo Garak’s neck before their lips touched. The hologram collapsed against Garak. The dark red holographic blood continued vigorously pumping out of him even after it should have slowed to a trickle. As the lukewarm liquid gushed down Garak’s arm, staining his clothes, Garak took a moment to appreciate the beauty of it. Most holoprograms he’d experienced tended to sugarcoat and sanitize the gore, but this one seemed to embrace and exaggerate it.

He dropped the body unceremoniously to the ground, and moved on, eager to leave that despicable holographic version of him behind. Is that how Julian really saw him? He shuddered at the recollection that the first time they’d met, he’d been pathetically lonely, embarrassingly lusty, and high out of his mind. He hadn’t even had the decency to cover up his shoulders. Yes, he really couldn’t blame Julian for picturing him like the depraved creature in a bodysuit that he’d just killed. He could only blame himself.

Two guards rounded the corner. They still didn’t seem to care that he had intruded. As they got closer, Garak felt certain that he had been right about why most of the holo characters didn’t seem to notice him. The guards also both looked exactly like Garak.

Garak disintegrated both of them with his disruptor (one can never be carrying too many concealed weapons), and continued walking. As he neared the piles of dust where they had been standing, both of them popped back into existence. They started to draw their weapons on him, seeming to remember that he had just shot them. He shot each of them again, and this time stood still, focusing on counting exactly how long of an interval there was between when they were killed and when they reappeared.

To his surprise, only one guard reappeared, the one that had been standing slightly further away from him. Interesting. The only difference was Garak’s proximity to the points where they had been killed. He vaporized the one remaining guard, stepped close to where he’d been standing, and waited. The respawn interval expired and no holo Garaks materialized. The program seemed to be able to detect that either a player character or a Garak-shaped object was in the way of where the killed character should go, and this interrupted the routine to respawn the holo character.

Garak was sure that information would help him, since he intended to destroy every holo Garak in here. Either something had gone wrong with the holosuites and Julian was in danger and all the holograms should be treated as enemies, or Julian was choosing to spend time with appalling holographic versions of him instead of the real him. Either way, it made sense to dispose of all of the impostors.

As Garak rolled up his blood-soaked sleeves and swapped out his disruptor for his dagger, feeling more in the mood for evisceration than evaporation, he suddenly heard noises coming from somewhere further down the hall. Slick wet sounds, and breathy little moans. His jaw tightened. Maybe he had been stood up for one of Julian’s amorous encounters after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Press f to pay respects to sexy!holo!Garak... :'(
> 
> The chapter count increased!!! >:) Once I started outlining the rest of it, I realized the remaining chapters were gonna be really long, so I'm just splitting it up into smaller chunks so I can try to keep the updates as frequent as possible
> 
> Also, I am always worried I didn't tag correctly, so let me know if you think there's something else I should have tagged or tagged differently!
> 
> Thanks to Primal_Nexus and AsgardianAngels for looking this over!
> 
> Thanks to every who leaves kudos or a comment! It means so much to me <3


	4. we’re taking over the world, one kiss at a time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holo Julian has arrived!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from Do It All the Time by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

Julian woke up again, still strapped to the table, his head feeling no better than last time. He had never come up with a real plan for escape, as he’d been a bit too distracted by the holo Garaks taking turns wooing and threatening him. His previous _ingenious_ escape plan— _just keep him talking and wait around for someone to find you? seriously, Julian???_ —was seeming less and less viable, as clearly no one had noticed he was missing. Either time was passing more slowly in here than he thought, or the AI had extended the holosuite reservation somehow without raising any alarms. He was honestly a little surprised he wasn’t dead, but the holo Garak seemed more interested in the holo Julian at the moment, and Julian wasn’t about to draw their attention back to himself since they had no reason left to keep him alive.

“My love, we meet at last,” the villainous holo Garak purred, as he swept the newly rendered Julian into an adoring kiss. The other holo Garak was nowhere to be seen. “I’ve wanted you for so long.”

“I never thought I’d be this wanted,” the Julian hologram managed between a flurry of kisses. “I never thought I’d get to be with you. Oh, I’m _yours_! I’m all yours, Garak...”

The real Julian wondered if his hologram was so into Garak because of some modification Garak had made to his programming or if the brain scans had picked up on something latent in Julian’s own mind. He _had_ been thinking earlier about how nice it would be to be loved like this, even picturing what it would be like to be with Garak...

“You don’t need to call me Garak. We aren’t them.”

“I’ll call you whatever you want... my love.”

“Yes, that will do nicely.”

They embraced again.

Julian craved their simple joy, their clarity, despite himself. They knew what they wanted— _who_ they wanted—with such certainty. He had never been that sure of any relationship he’d ever had. Not even Palis, clearly, as he’d broken up with her right after their engagement.

And what did the holo Julian’s behavior say about him? Did he really want Garak? _His_ Garak? Could Julian trust any of his own feelings right now, or was this all just too strange an experience? It certainly felt like a fever dream, watching his own doppelganger make out with a holographic supervillain that looked like his very best friend.

Not just a doppelganger, though, but a simulation.

Julian’s own subconscious had simulated Garak on a few occasions. During the Lethean attack before his thirtieth birthday, the Garak in his imagination had pushed him up against a wall while his hand slid slowly down his chest, and later had sung him happy birthday while dangling off of his arm in a room full of rainbow balloons. During the Founder’s simulation, his simulated Garak had greeted him at the airlock and couldn’t contain how much he’d missed him, and then he’d died after heroically saving him.

So, um, yeah... maybe, no, he definitely, _definitely_ was interested in Garak as (perhaps, very likely), _slightly_ more than friends, and had been even before all the weirdness of today. 

Not-Garak and Not-Julian were really going at it. The passion of their kisses and their panting gasps and the way their bodies were rubbing together were combining to make Julian a little too warm and his trousers a little too tight. Julian wondered if he should look away, but clearly they didn’t care. And... he thought he really should keep a close eye on them. He’d already lost track of the first holo Garak, and letting his guard down around that one, not to mention giving in to the strange feelings that the frightfully forward holo Garak had evoked in him, had been a mistake that had gotten him kidnapped. Yes, he needed to watch these two closely, to make sure they couldn’t take him by surprise. But it was hard to focus on the matter at hand while still struggling with the consideration of whether he wanted _his_ Garak to touch him like that.

The holographic couple started removing their clothes, and Julian’s face started burning, but he didn’t look away. Even though Julian was still scared for his life, and a little bit sad that no one had noticed he was missing, he was suddenly very glad that no one else was here to see this...

*

After testing out many different configurations—the sight of which had left Julian in quite a flustered state—holo Julian and holo Garak began gathering up their clothes, seemingly satisfied for the moment.

Julian had intended to come up with new escape plans while the two of them were preoccupied, but he had had trouble focusing. He wished he knew the composition and dosage of whatever he’d been drugged with, so that he’d know if that was what was responsible for his mind’s current fogginess.

“Ah, our friend is awake,” holo Garak said, slipping on his undergarments and pants. “Now that I’ve tested _you_ quite thoroughly, my love”—holo Garak wrapped his arm around the half-dressed holo Julian and squeezed his ass, earning a delighted gasp—“I suppose it’s time for us to kill _him_.” Without letting go of holo Julian, he aimed a gun at the real Julian.

Well, this was it. Julian could see the headlines now: _ONCE-RESPECTED STARFLEET CMO KILLED BY HIS OWN CUSTOM-MADE PORNOGRAPHIC HOLOPROGRAM._ He had hoped he would be remembered for his medical achievements rather than... this...

“No, we can’t do that,” holo Julian insisted evenly, grabbing Garak’s wrist and forcing him to lower his weapon. The real Julian was relieved to hear that his counterpart had some characteristic mercy and compassion. “If we kill him like that, the first thing they’ll do is examine the program that was running when he died, and find us.” _Oh._

Having been denied his romantic and dramatic murder moment, holo Garak let go of holo Julian so they could both resume getting dressed.

“Then I’ll just switch the holosuite to run another program once we’ve taken care of him.”

Holo Julian shook his head, as he pulled his shirt on and started buttoning it. “Even if we convince the system that another program was running, it will be obvious from his outfit that he was in the secret agent program.”

Holo Garak refastened his tunic. “We’ll have to destroy his clothes as well, then. Did anyone else know he was going to use this particular program? Did anyone see him dressed like this?”

Holo Julian tucked in his shirt, and reattached his cummerbund. “Hmmm, his holosuite appointment was for 0900 hours, so Quark’s was basically empty. Only Morn saw him come in, and Morn was already too drunk to be considered a reliable witness.”

Julian’s throat tightened. The holo Julian clearly had his memories, or at least his memories from today.

It was bizarre and truly unsettling to hear himself so casually plotting his own murder. As the holograms continued to discuss how to kill Julian without alerting any suspicions that there were rogue AIs on the loose, Julian’s mind began to wander and he started thinking about how the brain scan thing worked, since it clearly hadn’t produced an exact copy of him. As far as he could tell, the holo Julian seemed to want to live (fair enough), to destroy the real Julian (hmmm, a little nonideal, he had to admit), and to fuck Garak with unrestrained lust... but not even the _real_ Garak, which might have made some amount of sense perhaps, and instead just this weird evil AI version of Garak.

Maybe the scan had only captured a snapshot of what he’d been thinking and feeling at the moment. If so, it would certainly have captured the desperate will to live he’d been feeling right when the evil holo Garak had told him he would soon have no use for him anymore.

And even before that chilling moment, just seeing the holo Julian being constructed had made him uneasy. He’d certainly thought about wanting to stop it from being created and wanting to get rid of it. Julian had always hated the idea of being replaced and of being a replacement for someone else. He already always felt like a strangely smoothed over “new and improved” copy of who he should have been, and he’d always feared that if he didn’t keep meeting expectations, if he allowed himself to either have too many flaws or be too perfect, he’d get taken away and tinkered with and replaced all over again. So he couldn’t really blame the holo Julian for wanting to survive, or for wanting to get rid of him.

He wondered if his sick feeling of helplessness and fear of being replaced by this corrupted holo-version of himself was similar to how Jules might feel if he could see what Julian had done with the body and mind that used to be his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Julian: I am looking respectfully
> 
> Between this and my Lwaxana matchmaking Garashir fic, [vicarious](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26209144/chapters/63785356), I’m starting to think I’m obsessed with the idea of imperfect mindreading abilities/technology. I just think it would be hard to get it all completely right, you know?? Brains seem complicated lol
> 
> Thanks again to Primal_Nexus for beta reading! :D
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! <3


	5. i get a little bit genghis khan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Sterling Archer voice* RAMPAGE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder in case this isn’t clear... This fic is mostly set in the evil lair setting shown in the [Genghis Khan by Miike Snow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_SlAzsXa7E) music video (which is also the origin of the lyrics for this chapter title and the inspiration for the illustration in chapter 2, and which is simply REQUIRED VIEWING for all Garashir fans in my humble onion lol)

Garak followed the upsetting sounds into a large round room. He was on an upper balcony that wrapped around the circumference of the room. It was poorly lit compared to the high-ceilinged laboratory in the center, which was accessible by broad concrete stairs leading down from the lower balcony. He disposed of the nearest holo Garak guard standing by one of the pillars that lined the balcony, and looked down into the central area, where the noises were coming from.

What he saw was quite a shameless display. A holo Garak was fucking one Julian while a second Julian, fully clothed and strapped to a table, watched them raptly.

One of those Julians was probably the real one, but Garak had no idea which. He would have to be careful not to hurt the wrong one. Was the real Julian fucking a holo version of him and making a fake Julian watch? Or was the real Julian bound to the table watching holo versions of the two of them fuck? And, crucially, was this all some kind of sexual fantasy being played out to Julian’s exact specifications, or was this a situation that Julian actually needed rescuing from?

As the couple rolled around, seemingly trying out every position imaginable, Garak caught glimpses of Julian’s body that took his breath away. The curvature of his tensed shoulder blade, the back of one of his long elegant legs, his exposed neck craning back... Every bit of Julian (or perhaps his holographic copy) was exquisite, and Garak wanted him desperately.

He had to admit, it was an appealing and quite surprising discovery that Julian might actually want him back, if the existence of this holoprogram was any indication. He had never suspected it. It made him wonder with delight what other secrets Julian might have kept hidden. It made his heart sing with nervous hope.

But... if Julian really wanted him, then that should be _him_ making love to Julian, not this cheap knockoff. He couldn’t wait to destroy the fake Garak. Spill his blood, and crush his bones, and corrupt his data. He dearly wished he knew how to cause a hologram pain. He started fantasizing that as soon as he killed this awful impostor, the Julian he was fucking would instantly push the impostor’s body aside and start fucking him, the real Garak, instead.

Even as Garak’s rage built, he couldn’t stop stealing glances at the couple. The impostor Garak wasn’t even doing it right, and that made him even angrier. He, the real Garak, would devote himself to giving Julian as much pleasure as possible, rather than just taking his own. He would not just grunt and groan like an animal, he would recite Cardassian love poetry. He would write his own poems, just for Julian.

He started methodically killing all of the Garak-shaped guards stationed around the upper balcony while waiting for his chance to take a shot at the naked holo Garak, but he was still much too entangled with Julian to even attempt such a thing.

The first thrust of Garak’s dagger into each of the guards was always instantly lethal, but while he waited out the respawn interval, he continued to stab them over and over again, once for every time the holo Garak moaned in pleasure. Garak was taking his own perverse, angry pleasure in killing his lookalikes, and his clothes were soon soaked in their simulated blood and viscera. He didn’t worry about ruining his finery. It was only photons and magnetic fields, the stains would vanish when he left the holosuite, and in the meantime he could indulge in the goriest, most satisfying violence he’d gotten to perform in many years. (He was perhaps starting to understand why Julian liked the holosuites so much.)

Once he had disposed of all the guards on the upper level, Garak descended to the lower balcony to continue his rampage. He got perhaps a little bit carried away with it because, as he was pulling his dagger out of the eye socket of his most recent victim, he saw something that stopped his heart. The holo Garak who had been fucking one of the Julians was now aiming a gun at the Julian on the table. Garak was certain that the holosuite safety protocols were off, given the few minor scrapes he’d acquired while fighting the guard holo Garaks. A shot like that would be fatal to the real Julian. Garak peered out around a column and pointed his disruptor at the half-naked holo Garak but the Julian in his arms precluded a clear shot. He couldn’t risk it in case that was the real Julian.

The Julian in the half-naked holo Garak’s arms made holo Garak set his weapon down, and Garak let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. The pair continued getting dressed, discussing their plans to kill Julian all the while. Garak still didn’t know which Julian was real, but he knew he had to stop them.

He needed to get closer to make sure that he only killed the holo Garak, and not either of the Julians. He also needed to be closer so that, as soon as the holo Garak was taken care of, he could quickly restrain the holo Garak’s Julian—likely a hologram as well—before that Julian could react and hurt the other—likely real—Julian. This particular holo Garak seemed to be much more aware of what was going on than the guards were, so Garak not being dressed in their standard uniform, not to mention being covered in blood, would likely alert holo Garak prematurely to the fact that Garak was a threat.

Garak broke the neck of a nearby scientist holo Garak, and took his lab coat and clipboard. Garak hoped the simple disguise would be enough to allow him to wander the open central area of the lab unnoticed. He donned the lab coat and held his disruptor underneath the clipboard.

Garak made his way down the concrete stairs and into the central area, trying his best to look as mindless as possible. Holo Garak had started kissing likely-holo Julian again, so neither the two of them nor the Julian on the table were paying any attention to him. Garak aimed his focus on a set of computer monitors just past the couple, and walked steadily towards it, pretending to ignore them.

As he approached the couple, he was gradually able to get a better look at the expression on the holo Garak’s face. All the other holo Garaks hadn’t been quite real, but this one... This one seemed like there was something more to it. This one was clearly in love.

Garak found himself envying what that must be like, to be able to show your affections to the one you love. He was struck with horror by the fact that the only apparent difference between him and this holo version of him, was that this holo Garak had been granted his heart’s desire, along with the freedom to pursue it. He wasn’t sure if his takeaway should be that it was possible for him to be just as happy as this holo Garak, or if he was being shown evidence that he never would be.

And yet, Garak knew he had to kill him. Holo Garak still was a major threat to Julian.

Garak was walking right behind them now as they kissed and said “I love you” back and forth. Garak angled his clipboard to keep his disruptor concealed, and aimed at holo Garak in such a way that the shot wouldn't hit either of the Julians even if holo Garak made a sudden movement at the last second.

He pulled the trigger.

As holo Garak disintegrated, likely-holo Julian stumbled, and Garak stepped forward to catch him. Garak stared into his eyes, and likely-holo Julian stared right back in shock.

“Garak—I sure as hell hope that’s you, because I can’t take any more fake Garaks—the safeties are off, please be careful!!” shouted the Julian strapped to the table.

The surprise faded from the likely-holo Julian in his arms, and a new desirous look came into his eyes. “Garak? Is that you? Are you the real Garak? You’re the one I _really_ want...” Tentatively, Julian kissed him. Garak hadn’t expected that response but he couldn’t say that he minded it, even though he could still taste holo Garak’s saliva on his lips.

Garak was now fairly sure about which Julian was the hologram. The fact that this Julian wanted him and was kissing him was proof enough that this could not be the real Julian. As an additional test, he wrapped his arms around him and felt the material of his shirt. It was definitely not quite the right fabric. When Garak had made this shirt for Julian, he’d used the smoothest, most luxurious material he could get, whereas this fabric was coarse and stiff and common.

“GARAK! Hey, stop kissing him!!! Just get rid of him quickly and let’s get out of here...”

Garak ignored the almost-certainly-real Julian on the table and allowed the kiss to continue. Garak intended to stand here for the duration of the respawn interval to try to prevent the holo Garak from returning. Besides, the almost-certainly-holo Julian couldn’t hurt anyone if he was kissing Garak. And it might be the only time he ever got to kiss “Julian”...

He counted down in his head as he steeled himself for what he needed to do. He was finding it difficult, even though he was certain. The respawn interval passed, and the holo Garak did not materialize. Garak pulled back, and took holo Julian’s head between his hands, cupping his cheeks softly, and gazing into his eyes. Holo Julian continued caressing him or, more likely, searching him for weapons.

In a moment of weakness, as a way to safely test how it felt to love and be loved—that is to say, as a foolish indulgence into an unrealistic fantasy—Garak allowed his mask to slip and allowed his real feelings for Julian to be written all over his face. Holo Julian looked back at him, so hopeful, so perfect, so blissful, his eyes so wide, his open lips so puffy and pink where Garak had just softly sucked on them...

Garak felt holo Julian start to pull the dagger from Garak’s pocket, and he was brought back to his senses. Garak snapped holo Julian’s neck, professional as anything. Quick, clean, painless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP to evil!holo!Garak, evil!holo!Julian, and thousands upon thousands of brainless holo Garaks who did nothing wrong... :’’’’(
> 
> Next chapter (the daring escape!!) will be posted sometime during the weekend! 
> 
> Thanks again to Primal_Nexus and AsgardianAngels for beta reading!
> 
> As of posting this chapter, I have published >50k words of Garashir fanfic on ao3 this year alone!! This feels like an INSANE accomplishment, given how difficult writing has always been for me, and I’m so proud of myself for getting here! I literally wouldn’t have written so much without the support and enthusiasm of my readers and all the fandom friends I’ve made, not to mention just the amazing energy of the DS9/Garashir fandom in general!
> 
> Thanks for reading! All kudos and comments are extremely appreciated!!! <3


	6. every time i fall, how do i (why do i) get back up for more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The daring escape!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is a lyric from Jalisco by Babeheaven.

Julian watched in surprise as one of the holo Garaks in a lab coat used a Cardassian disruptor to vaporize supervillain holo Garak (Julian had started mentally distinguishing the holo Garaks in terms of the spy action movie tropes they were most like). Julian was relieved. Supervillain holo Garak was finally gone, and this must be _his_ Garak, the real Garak, here to save him!

But his shock and confusion were renewed when this new Garak immediately started kissing holo Julian too.

This was the real Garak, right? Had to be. Why would a hologram in his spy program even have a Cardassian disruptor? So why was the _real_ Garak kissing holo Julian back? That was the _wrong_ Julian! Couldn’t Garak even tell the difference?

_What am I even THINKING?? Why would the real Garak want to actually kiss ME? Holo Garak only wanted me because he was programmed to..._

Just in case this was the real Garak, Julian warned him about the lack of holosuite safeties. Julian also secretly hoped that making his presence known would be enough to get Garak to break off the kiss, so Julian got a little frustrated when instead Garak wrapped his arms around the impostor and kept going.

“GA- _RAK_! Hey, stop kissing him!!! Just get rid of him quickly and let’s get out of here...”

Garak ignored him. Julian knew he had no right to be annoyed, seeing as he’d done the very same with the homme fatale holo Garak earlier... But he’d only kissed Garak’s holo-likeness _before_ he knew he was in a life-or-death situation!

Julian ached with confused jealous desire when Garak cupped the wrong Julian’s face in his hands and looked at him adoringly. But then Julian blinked and Garak’s face was neutral again, and he thought maybe he had just imagined his longing look.

The wrong Julian slipped his hand up under the lower hem of Garak’s tunic, and Julian wondered briefly if he’d have to watch the wrong Julian fuck yet another Garak right in front of him. His concerns were allayed when Garak abruptly twisted holo Julian’s head well past its limits with a grotesque snapping sound, then let the body fall to the ground with a thump.

Even though Julian was very glad that his holo replica was finally gone, it was deeply upsetting to see his friend be so calm and so sure, as he snapped the neck of his holo-likeness. Julian shivered, remembering how chillingly at ease the homme fatale holo Garak had been when he’d drugged Julian while kissing him. Was this actually just that first holo Garak again in another outfit? Or... was his Garak just as vicious and untrustworthy as that holo Garak had been? No, somehow Garak must have just known with complete certainty that that was the wrong Julian...

_But then why did Garak kiss him if he knew he was an impostor? Was the kiss part of how Garak figured out which of us was fake? But how would that help unless he knew what it was like to kiss me? Has he kissed me sometime that I don’t remember? I don’t THINK he was at Jadzia’s birthday party when I drank way too much bloodwine and made out with anyone who would let me (or so I’m told), but I suppose it’s possible... Oh no, I really hope we didn’t... I want to remember our first kiss..._

“My dear doctor,” Garak said as he ran over to Julian, pulling him out of his anxiously spiraling thoughts, “are you all right?”

Julian’s heart soared. Usually he wished Garak would call him by his name, but right now it felt amazing to hear him say _my dear doctor_. This _was_ his Garak, surely.

“Yes, although I nearly wasn’t... Now, can you help me out of these?”

“Of course.” Garak adjusted his disruptor settings so the beam was narrower and more focused, and then he carefully used it to cut away the shackles on Julian’s ankles. “Have you tried an emergency medical transport?”

Julian was internally kicking himself. “No, I didn’t even think of that! I didn’t bring my combadge with me, but maybe the holosuite will forward my request... Bashir to Ops, emergency medical transport requested, two to beam to infirmary.”

They waited a moment but nothing happened.

“Well, it was worth a try,” Julian sighed.

Garak took Julian’s hand and pulled his wrist as far as he could to one side of the shackle before cutting away at the other side. As Garak started to go around the table to remove the last restraint, Julian sat up and tried stretching out his limbs. His arms and legs felt weirdly heavy and hard to control.

Suddenly, Julian heard footsteps echoing from across the room and realized they were not alone. 

“You killed him! He was _mine_ and you killed him!” supervillain holo Garak raged. He stomped down the steps into the central part of the lab, hands shaking with fury as he drew his gun.

When Garak saw the gun, he quickly pushed Julian flat onto the table again and covered him with his body to shield him. For a charged moment, they looked deep into each other’s eyes, barely any distance between their faces, and Julian thought about how their bodies seemed to fit perfectly together, and how easy it would be to stretch upward, just a little, with a fractional movement of his neck, for a kiss... And then he remembered how ready he’d been to do the same when the horny holo Garak had straddled him on the table almost just like this, and he looked away feeling guilty. Garak was currently putting himself in very real danger to protect him, and all he was thinking about was what it would be like to kiss him.

“Garak, you have to go while you still can! Get out of here, please!” As he spoke, Julian tried as hard as he could to pull his own hand out of the restraint so that they wouldn’t be stuck here on this table anymore. But it was useless.

“My dear doctor, I won’t leave y—”

Evil holo Garak fired. Where their chests were pressed together, Julian could feel the shock of each bullet striking Garak’s back. Garak hissed in pain and clutched tightly at Julian’s shirt, bunching up the fabric between his fingers. Garak squeezed his eyes shut and a tear rolled down his nose and dripped onto Julian’s cheek.

“Please, Garak! I don’t think he’ll hurt me, he needs me for—”

Evil holo Garak laughed humorlessly. “No, I don’t need you anymore, _my dear doctor_ ,” he drawled, sarcastically mocking the way that the real Garak addressed him. “I can easily rebuild my love from my memories of him once I kill you and escape this godforsaken place. He gave me all of your access codes so replicating holo emitters and then transporting myself to a runabout and leaving the station will be easy enough. But... I lost the version of him that had any of his memories. He won’t remember me, or our short time together. He might not... he might not love me anymore...” He approached the broken body of his lover, looked down sadly, and briefly stopped shooting at them.

Garak used the moment of distraction to roll over and slice the evil holo Garak gruesomely in half with his disruptor.

Julian saw all of the bullets lodged in Garak’s back, and gasped. He was glad they didn’t seem to have penetrated to a lethal depth, but he knew that Garak must be in a lot of pain.

“Garak, you’re hurt—”

“It can wait. We have to move quickly. He’ll be back again in a moment, I’m sure,” Garak said, and Julian nodded.

Garak finished cutting the last of the shackles, then put his disruptor away. Julian slid to his feet, hands still resting on the table. But as soon as he tried to stand unsupported, he immediately stumbled, woozy and with unsteady legs—whether from the remnants of whatever the horny holo Garak had drugged him with or as a result of the brain scan, he wasn’t sure—and collapsed into Garak’s arms.

“I don’t think I can walk, they drugged me with something...”

“I’ve got you, my dear doctor,” he said, in a way that Julian thought was almost tender, and it made his stomach turn inside out, but in a good way.

Garak wrapped one arm behind Julian’s back, scooped under his knees with the other, and then lifted him with no small effort. Julian draped his arms around Garak’s neck and clung to him as Garak carried him out of the lab.

Julian wished he wasn’t such a burden. Garak’s injuries were far worse. Julian should be the one taking care of him! It was beyond frustrating that he had been rendered so completely useless. And all because he had allowed himself to be tempted into a single kiss...

Julian tried to pay attention to where they were going, but he hadn’t been conscious when he’d been brought in here, so it was all completely unfamiliar to him. So he looked at Garak instead. Julian’s eyes idly traced the shape of his facial ridges, his neck scales, his jaw, his lips... He marveled that Garak seemed so calm and determined. If he hadn’t been there when Garak was shot, Julian would never have guessed that he was severely injured just by looking at his face. It hurt Julian to think about how much pain Garak might have managed to hide from him over the years.

Garak glanced at him and then looked quickly away again, seeming surprised that Julian had been looking toward him. Julian’s heart pounded in his throat.

In his hazy unfocused state, veins coursing with fear and adrenaline and whatever drugs were still in his system, the certainty of Garak’s “ _I’m not leaving you_ ” and the gentleness of Garak’s “ _I’ve got you_ ” still echoing in his mind, Julian did have to admit that there was something unexpectedly appealing about being cradled in Garak’s arms, about being the one rescued instead of the one doing the rescuing, about being Garak’s very own doctor-in-distress. Julian had always wanted to be like James Bond and be the hero, so he had never considered how strangely thrilling it could be to be so totally helpless in the capable arms of someone who cared about you enough to take literal bullets for you.

Garak’s grip on Julian slipped just a little bit, and Julian clung to him tighter. He knew Garak must be so exhausted by now.

Julian felt something wet under his hands and noticed that large patches on the front of Garak’s lab coat were starting to darken from something seeping up through the fabric. Maroon, the color of Cardassian blood.

“Garak! You’re bleeding here too!” Julian said in alarm.

“Oh, don’t worry, my dear doctor, most of _that_ particular blood isn’t mine.”

Julian didn’t really understand what he meant, until they rounded a corner. There were a swarm of Garak-shaped guards running toward them in the next hall, and he suddenly realized what Garak must have needed to do in order to reach him. Garak ducked them quickly back around the corner and started to head another way.

“Julian, my disruptor is strapped to my chest, I need you to reach down my shirt and get it.” Julian just blinked at him, startled by the use of his given name, and the intimacy of what he was being asked to do. “Quickly! You’ll have to shoot. I’ve got my hands full.”

Julian obeyed and slid his hand down the front of Garak’s collar. As he moved downward, he felt the scales that were so prominent on Garak’s ridges get finer and less pronounced. He felt Garak’s heart beating. He felt him breathing. It was intoxicating. _Focus, Julian!_ His fingers trailed further down, into and then out of a divot on Garak’s chest that likely matched the one on his forehead. A bit further still, and he finally found the disruptor—“Got it!”—and pulled it out carefully.

Not a moment too soon, because some of them were catching up now. Julian shifted his weight and pulled himself up so that he was looking back over Garak’s shoulder, arms out straight and resting on Garak’s shoulders holding the gun in both hands. Garak had to change the way he was holding him and soon Julian’s knees were in the crook of his elbow, and Garak’s arm was supporting the underside of one of his legs. He didn’t really have time to think about the feeling of having Garak’s hand on his ass, but he did think about it (and revel in it) regardless, even as bullets flew past them and even as he worked on disintegrating all of the holo Garaks pursuing them.

They left the building, and Julian blinked in the sudden sunlight. Garak mustered a renewed burst of speed, and then they were at the holosuite door, and then they were through. Garak finally slumped to the floor under Julian’s weight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Julian, reaching down Garak’s shirt and feeling him up as he searches for the disruptor hidden in between his tiddies: I hope this doesn’t awaken anything in me
> 
> Garak, meanwhile: PLEASE let this awaken something in him...
> 
> I know I made it seem like I had a plan for making the game mechanics seem consistent, but it's really just whatever served the scene best hahaha... So yeah, evil!holo!Garak just set his respawn point to be somewhere else in the evil lair so he keeps getting warped back there and then has to walk a long ways to get back to wherever he was. XD
> 
> Thank you again to beta readers [Primal_Nexus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Primal_Nexus/pseuds/Primal_Nexus) and [AsgardianAngels](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsgardianAngels/pseuds/AsgardianAngels) for all their help! <3
> 
> I may or may not split up the rest of what I've got planned into two chapters (for a total of eight)... and I'm not sure how soon I will be able to post the next update, I kinda need to take a break for at least a week to finish up some other things I've been procrastinating lol
> 
> Kudos and comments always make my day! I just want to know what you think, and have an excuse to talk more about my fic!!! Thanks for reading! <3

**Author's Note:**

> fic playlist ([spotify link](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7l0BT4LzFl98rduXPlsGT2)): Genghis Khan by Miike Snow, I Wish I Was James Bond by Scouting for Girls, Fear & Delight by the Correspondents, Jalisco by Babeheaven, Billy by DRAMA, Toxic by Britney Spears, You Are My Obsession by Trevor Something, Do It All the Time by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME


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